Got bit, going to try my hand at raising a litter. Some of you that have been doing this for years, .... what was the one thing you wish you had been told before you started.....
Thanks.
Retrospect
Retrospect
If ya don't raise champion children, the livestock won't really matter.
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Hog_Whisperer
- Showpig Specialist
- Posts: 237
- Joined: Mon Oct 02, 2006 7:00 pm
- Location: Southern Oregon
Re: Retrospect
Don't do it!alterna wrote:what was the one thing you wish you had been told before you started.....
Seriously tho,
The one thing I wish I would have been told is to pay very close attention to the sows you choose to keep and the boars you breed them to. It is better to spend a little more money at the start and get a good base herd than to have to work your way up to quality.
West Coast Show pigs
Hampshires, Yorkshires, Polands, and Crossbreds
Project pigs, Breeding stock
Central Point, Oregon
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Hampshires, Yorkshires, Polands, and Crossbreds
Project pigs, Breeding stock
Central Point, Oregon
Follow us on Facebook!
Hogwhisperer, that couldnt be more true.
I think there are a few things... set goals for yourself and stick to them. For instance, if you plan on breeding for national level shows than make sure your breeding stock is at that calibur already. If you just want to do county shows then breed accordingly. Figure out what your goals are before you actually get started. Have short term and long term goals for yourself and make sure that your family is with you and those goals. I know when we first started my fiancee just wanted hogs to eat and raise for market and I wanted to raise pigs to show. Two totally different types of breeding. So we had to sit down and figure out which way we were going to go and what we were trying to achieve with the breeding. We ended up deciding to go the showpig route.
What I wish I knew before I bred were the following;
What vaccinations to give for breeding animals as well as babies when born.
What to have on hand durring farrowing in the worst case scenerio.
To have a reliable and trustworthy veterinarian that takes your buisness seriously no matter how big or small you might be. ( have had problems in the past with vets telling me I didnt need a vaccination or certain things not because I really didnt need them, but because it was an "inconvenience" for them to deal with someone on a smaller scale than the big farms.)
I think there are a few things... set goals for yourself and stick to them. For instance, if you plan on breeding for national level shows than make sure your breeding stock is at that calibur already. If you just want to do county shows then breed accordingly. Figure out what your goals are before you actually get started. Have short term and long term goals for yourself and make sure that your family is with you and those goals. I know when we first started my fiancee just wanted hogs to eat and raise for market and I wanted to raise pigs to show. Two totally different types of breeding. So we had to sit down and figure out which way we were going to go and what we were trying to achieve with the breeding. We ended up deciding to go the showpig route.
What I wish I knew before I bred were the following;
What vaccinations to give for breeding animals as well as babies when born.
What to have on hand durring farrowing in the worst case scenerio.
To have a reliable and trustworthy veterinarian that takes your buisness seriously no matter how big or small you might be. ( have had problems in the past with vets telling me I didnt need a vaccination or certain things not because I really didnt need them, but because it was an "inconvenience" for them to deal with someone on a smaller scale than the big farms.)